This chapter discusses the role of domestic foreign investment screening legislation and its link to investment treaties. The chapter proceeds to examine the treaty definitions of the concepts of investment and investor and associated controversies. It concludes with an explanation of performance requirements which may be imposed on foreign investors.

The term ‘coastal State’ is not defined under UNCLOS despite being one of the most frequently used terms. In the EEZ, UNCLOS confers upon coastal States both exclusive sovereign rights and jurisdiction over natural resources and jurisdiction in relation to artificial islands, installations and structure, marine scientific research and environmental protection. However, the scope of these rights and obligations is not always clearly set out in the relevant provisions, requiring further clarification and elaboration. Moreover, due to the new scope of power given to coastal States in the EEZ, the question has arisen as to how coastal States’ rights and obligations in this new maritime zone, as well as coastal States’ rights and obligations in the territorial sea and the high seas, interact with historic claims arising prior to the entry into force of UNCLOS. This chapter analyses the decisions rendered by UNCLOS tribunals addressing the abovementioned issues and assesses the extent to which they have contributed to clarifying relevant rules relating to coastal States’ rights and obligations under the law of the sea.

This chapter describes the proliferation of international organizations created and extended during the 1990s. It puts these developments in the context of liberal internationalism as an extension of the Washington Consensus.

This chapter considers the main forms of investment treaties, exploring some leading examples such as the Energy Charter Treaty, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement and the Comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership. It also discusses the role of some global organizations in facilitating international investment, notably the World Trade Organization and the World Bank.

The procedural rules on dispute settlement are primarily contained in Part XV UNCLOS. These rules set out the conditions for UNCLOS tribunals to establish and exercise their compulsory jurisdiction hear contentious disputes. In addition to disputes between States, UNCLOS also grants the Seabed Disputes Chamber advisory jurisdiction pursuant to Article 191 UNCLOS. ITLOS as a full tribunal, however, has also found that it may exercise advisory jurisdiction despite the absence of an explicit provision to that effect under UNCLOS and the ITLOS Statute. This Chapter critically examines UNCLOS tribunals’ decisions relating the conditions for the establishment of compulsory jurisdiction in contentious proceedings under Part XV and the establishment of advisory jurisdiction of both the SDC and ITLOS as a full tribunal, in order to determine the extent to which UNCLOS tribunals have clarified the procedural law under the Convention.

This chapter begins with a brief overview of the UNCLOS dispute settlement system established under Part XV UNCLOS. It then provides a conceptual framework for understanding what is meant by ‘development of the law’ by international courts and tribunals in order to set the stage for an analysis of the development of the law of the sea in the subsequent chapters. The chapter suggests a working definition of the term ‘development of the law’ and explains the ways in which international courts and tribunals ‘develop the law’. In the course of doing so, the chapter also explores the role of legal reasoning in the assessment of the contribution of judicial decisions to the development of international law.

This chapter looks at the national security and public law aspects of the global crisis resulting from the rise of national populism and revisionist states challenging the global order. Threats include war, nuclear proliferation, erosion of human rights, and the pollution of cyberspace.

This chapter considers the role of essential security as a justification for breaching obligations under investment treaties. It notes the link between the protection of national security and the doctrine of necessity under customary international law. The chapter looks at some of the key national security screening instruments of various countries, notably the US FIRRMA.

The knowledge economy represents a new domination by a longstanding factor of production. New insights and technological innovation have always shaped economic activity, but the rate of technological change and the proportion of knowledge as a factor of production and as a product have grown greatly in recent decades. This chapter describes the knowledge economy and explains how it makes it more likely that producers will have postive returns to scale – in other words, that profits will increase as the level of production grows. These features have profound implications for the international dimensions of the knowledge economy, as illustrated by branding and supply chains.

This chapter introduces the concept of foreign direct investment, tracing its history and economic justifications. The chapter goes on to explain the sources of international investment law, the most significant of which are treaties.

This chapter examines political risk insurance as an alternative to international investment treaties, looking at some of the world’s leading providers of this service. It continues with a consideration of investment incentives, followed by a discussion of some of the main sources for further information on international investment law. This chapter then offers a concluding overview of some of the central debates in international investment law.